Principal Product Manager - AI & Intelligent Manufacturing Systems

Principal Product Manager - AI & Intelligent Manufacturing SystemsOakland, CA OfficeAbout MISUMI AmericasMISUMI Americas, a division of MISUMI Group, is a leading provider of standard, configurable, and custom manufacturing solutions. By integrating a vast catalog of components with a world-class digital manufacturing platform, MISUMI Americas empowers engineers and procurement teams to accelerate innovation across the entire product lifecycle. With operations in the San Francisco Bay Area and Chicago, the company serves as a vital partner for the most innovative companies in the Americas.Impact In This RoleAs our Principal Product Manager - AI & Intelligent Manufacturing Systems, you'll serve as a strategic and technical thought leader driving the vision, roadmap, and execution of AI-powered capabilities across MISUMI Americas Manufacturing Quoting and Fulfillment Platform. This is a highly visible, high-leverage role — one that shapes how AI and automation become foundational to MISUMI Americas operating system for new product development (NPD). You'll partner directly with our AI R&D, data science, and platform architecture teams to define the core intelligence layer that powers quoting, supply orchestration, and manufacturing decision-making at scale.You will own and evolve the product strategy that fuses advanced AI models, data-driven automation, and manufacturing domain intelligence into a cohesive system that sets new standards for operational efficiency, precision, and speed.This role is ideal for a seasoned product leader with experience bringing AI-first enterprise platforms to life — someone equally comfortable discussing model architectures and data pipelines as they are business value and market differentiation.You will report to the VP, Product Management.Areas of Responsibility:1. AI Technology Strategy & Product VisionDefine the long-term AI technology strategy for MISUMI Americas digital manufacturing platform — including where and how to leverage LLMs, machine learning, computer vision, and reinforcement learningPartner with AI research and engineering leadership to translate R&D advances into scalable, customer-facing capabilitiesIdentify and prioritize core AI product opportunities — from intelligent quoting and auto-classification of 3D models to predictive supplier matching and adaptive routing enginesDrive the architectural vision for MISUMI Americas AI intelligence layer, ensuring alignment between data infrastructure, ML systems, and platform integrationEvangelize the role of AI within the organization — educating teams on capabilities, limitations, and ethical deployment of intelligent systems2. Deep Technical Product LeadershipServe as the product owner for AI infrastructure and model lifecycle management, including data acquisition, training, deployment, monitoring, and feedback loopsPartner with ML engineers and data scientists to design human-in-the-loop workflows that continuously improve system accuracy and explainabilityOwn the AI feature pipeline: define use cases, establish model performance metrics (precision, recall, latency, cost), and measure impact on business KPIs (quote accuracy, margin, lead time)Collaborate with platform engineering to ensure scalability, modularity, and compliance in AI integrationsDrive responsible AI practices, including fairness, transparency, and auditability in model-driven decision systems3. Solutions Integration & Application DevelopmentLead the development of AI-driven application modules — such as automated quoting, manufacturability assessment, supplier recommendation, and production forecastingWork with product teams across quoting, fulfillment, and partner management to identify where intelligence adds differentiated valueEnsure AI and automation capabilities are embedded seamlessly into MISUMI Americas core user experiences and operational workflowsAct as a bridge between AI technology development and solution commercialization, ensuring innovations move efficiently from lab to production4. Metrics, Experimentation, and ValidationDefine the performance framework for all AI-enabled systems, including model metrics (accuracy, throughput, latency), business KPIs (margin improvement, cycle time reduction), and adoption metricsLead data-informed experimentation programs to validate new model capabilities and measure real-world impact before scalingChampion continuous learning loops between R&D, product, and operations teams5. Cross-Functional & Executive InfluencePartner with senior leadership across Product, Engineering, Data, and Operations to align AI investments with strategic business outcomesInfluence architecture, resource allocation, and data strategy decisions that affect MISUMI Americas AI roadmapMentor and guide other product managers in the organization on AI-first thinking and technical product management best practicesRepresent MISUMI Americas externally — at conferences, customer forums, and AI ecosystem events — as a thought leader in intelligent manufacturing systemsExperience/Qualifications:Required10+ years of product management experience, including 4+ years leading AI or ML-driven products from research to productionStartup experience with demonstrated 0-to-MVP-to-1 product ownership; ideally at a company that achieved a successful exit (acquisition or IPO)Proven track record building AI-first SaaS or enterprise systems, ideally in manufacturing, supply chain, logistics, or industrial automationDeep understanding of AI technologies, including LLMs, supervised/unsupervised ML, computer vision, or predictive analytics pipelinesDemonstrated success collaborating with AI research teams and data engineering to operationalize models into scalable, production-grade systemsFluency in data infrastructure concepts (feature stores, inference APIs, model retraining, observability)Strong technical intuition and ability to engage deeply with engineers and data scientists on architecture, experimentation, and trade-offs.Analytical rigor and comfort with experimentation frameworks, A/B testing, and quantitative product measurementExceptional communication and influence skills — able to connect technical complexity to business impact and inspire alignment across functionsPreferredDomain experience in manufacturing, supply chain, or CAD/CAM ecosystemsExperience designing or managing systems with human-in-the-loop AI, active learning, or automated decision-support modelsWorking knowledge of product data ontologies, graph databases, or knowledge modeling for industrial applicationsTrack record of thought leadership or published work on AI strategy, ML productization, or applied AI ethicsPhysical DemandsThe physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.While performing the duties of this job, the employee routinely is required to sit; walk; talk and hear; use hands to keyboard, fingers, handle, and feel; stoop, kneel, crouch, twist, crawl, reach, and stretch.Perks and BenefitsCompetitive medical, dental, and vision insurance401K planParental leave programsPaid volunteer daysAnd much, much more!MISUMI Americas is continuing to expand our remote US workforce. Applicants from the following states are eligible to apply:Arizona (AZ), California (CA), District of Columbia, (DC), Delaware (DE), Florida (FL), Georgia (GA), Hawaii (HI), Iowa (IA), Illinois (IL), Indiana (IN), Kansas (KS), Massachusetts (MA), Maryland (MD), Michigan (MI), Minnesota (MN), Missouri (MO), North Carolina (NC), New Hampshire (NH), New Jersey (NJ), New York (NY), Nevada (NV), Ohio (OH), Oregon (OR), South Carolina (SC), Texas (TX), Tennessee (TN), Utah (UT), Virginia (VA), Washington (WA), West Virginia (WV), Wisconsin (WI), Wyoming (WY)Salary Range: $210,000 to $230,000 per year, based upon experienceInterested in learning more? We look forward to hearing from you soon.We're actively seeking teammates who:Bring diverse perspectives and experience to our culture and company.Excel at being part